‘Anti-Lib’ teacher Regina Wilson cuts ties to union

A teacher who vowed to ‘ensure the next generation of voters in my classroom don’t vote Liberal’ has severed ties with the AEU.

An AEU spokeswoman confirmed Regina Wilson, who was a union delegate, had ’voluntarily stepped down from the role’.

A public school teacher and union delegate who vowed to “ensure the next generation of voters in my classroom don’t vote Liberal” has severed all ties with the Australian Education Union ahead of a teachers’ strike tomorrow.

Regina Wilson, a South Australian teacher, is facing investigations into her conduct by the Education Department and the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment after her post on the AEU’s Facebook page was revealed by The Australian last week. Her post reignited a ­debate about political interference in the classroom by union-affiliated teachers.

Public school teachers at about 900 sites will strike ­tomorrow as part of a pay and conditions dispute with the eight-month-old Liberal state government, the first teachers’ strike in South Australia for a decade.

Yesterday, an AEU spokeswoman confirmed Ms Wilson, who was a union delegate, had “voluntarily stepped down from the role”.

AEU state president Howard Spreadbury said while Ms Wilson had “made a statement of intent, it is yet to be determined” whether she had carried though on it. “It really is a matter for the (Education) Department to look into and make some findings,” he told FIVEaa radio.

“She hasn’t, at that point in time, done anything wrong in any of her classrooms. There’s been no complaints about her to this point in time.”

Mr Spreadbury, amid a community backlash to Ms Wilson’s comments, last week said “the posting of her intent needs to be investigated”.

“She believes part of developing students’ critical thinking is to talk to them about politics. It’s not for me to make the judgment about whether she’s right or wrong … I think it does need to be followed through.”

South Australian Treasurer Rob Lucas raised the matter with union bosses a fortnight ago but they took no action at the time.

Ms Wilson did not comment yesterday, but last week told The Australian the union played a vital role in schools. “There is a huge discrepancy between what is being reported and what the government is saying and what we are being told has happened in our enterprise bargaining negotiations by the AEU,” she said.

“One reason I am a strong union supporter is because if we didn’t have the union, then us teachers wouldn’t actually have a voice.”

The 58-year-old former Fair Work inspector is an international student program manager who teaches classes in Years 8, 9 and 11 at the 1000-student Woodville High School in Adelaide. School principal Meredith Edwards has not responded to requests for comment.

An Education Department spokesman would not confirm whether Ms Wilson remained a classroom teacher, saying “we do not discuss matters pertaining to individual employees”.